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Uwe Rosenberg farming games
Uwe Rosenberg is a German board game designer with several highly respected titles in his ludography. If there’s a designer whose work I adore, Rosenberg is that. He has designed many games, but I’m particularly interested in his work around the farming theme and worker placement mechanism, starting from Agricola in 2007. This ignores his…
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The best teas to drink with Fields of Arle: Tea & Trade
Fields of Arle Fields of Arle is one of the best titles in the Uwe Rosenberg ludography. I’ve found Rosenberg’s games are often best with two players; in many cases, extra players just lengthen the game without offering much. Here, the player count is capped at two. Fields of Arle isn’t a tricky game. It…
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Monikers and Oath
I’d call yesterday’s game night a success. After a couple of hands of The Crew: Mission Deep Sea – a failure, and then success at the same mission – we played a six-player game of Monikers. This is the best party game, in my opinion: a perfect mixture of roaring laughter and quick thinking. The…
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Mono White Mythic
I made it to the Mythic rank, the best rank in Magic: The Gathering Arena. I’ve reached Mythic twice before: two months in a row last year when I started playing Magic online, and again last May. Earlier I’ve always made it to Mythic with a Mono Green Aggro deck (2021 variant, 2020 variant), but…
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So Clover!
So Clover! by François Romain, published Repos Production in 2021. I received a review copy from Asmodee Nordics. Elevator pitch: Come up with clues for four two-word pairs and hope your friends can figure out your clues in this cooperative word puzzling game. What’s in the box? This game sure has eye-catching components. Each player…
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Altiplano and The City
While my daughter is cheerleading, I’ve spent the time walking. Now that it’s cold and dark outside, walking isn’t as much fun, so I ended up spending the time in the local library, reading books or doing crossword puzzles. Then we realized my son could join me and we could spend the time playing games!…
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First impressions: Similo
As the last game last night, a friend introduced me to Similo. It’s a quick five-minute filler where you try to guess what someone else is thinking. Twelve character cards are laid down on the table, face up. One of the players tries to get the other players to guess which of those twelve characters…
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First impressions: So Clover!
Asmodee Nordics sent me a review copy of the game. So Clover! seemed attractive from the first mention, and I wasn’t disappointed when I played the game. It is a cooperative party game. Everybody gets four cards that form four linked two-word pairs, comes up with clues for those pairs, and the other players then…
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Musing on mahjong
I had a delightful opportunity to play mahjong recently. My son has always been into the game, and my daughter also got into it recently. She’s been interested, but the game has been too hard for her. Now that she’s 12, she can play. We were visiting my mother, who also plays, and while I…
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Blue Skies
Blue Skies by Joe Huber, published Rio Grande Games in 2020. I’ve played this couple of times with a friend’s copy. Elevator pitch: This very plain-looking game offers an interesting mix of short-term point collection and long-term area majority in a very old-fashioned way. What’s in the box? There’s a big very plain-looking board full…